Wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade surged to their highest level since June 2009 early on Thursday amid fears of drought in Europe cutting crop production there, traders said. Soyabean futures also were strong early amid better-than-expected weekly export sales and a firm crude oil market.
At 9:33 am CDT (1433 GMT), CBOT soft red winter wheat for September delivery was up 14-3/4 cents at $6.03 a bushel. Prices had touched a high of $6.10 shortly after the open. CBOT August soyabeans were up 8-1/2 cents at $10.23-3/4 a bushel.